At the show in Dusseldorf (May 8-14), the company will show off its compact Astepo High Speed, Low Acid bag-in-box filler, which is suitable for both low and high-acid products including juices, juice drinks, concentrated juices, purees and dairy products including flavored UHT milk.
The machine can fill aseptic bags from 3-25 liters via a continuous process, and Jacopo Montali, Alfa-Laval product manager, bag-in-box fillers, explained the machine’s key technological features.
“Thanks to the implementation of a brushless electric servo motor technology in the new filler, we are able to control and adjust all the movement of the aseptic filling and the bag feeder with extreme accuracy and smoothness of motion,” he said.
‘Beer in a box, beer in a bag-in-box…’
“This is what gives the machine the capability to fill up to 500 bags/minute, based on 10-liter bags. It also enables changeover of caps and volume to be achieved in minimum time compared to any other machine on the market,” Montali added.
First presented at Drinktec last September, a beer-in-box aseptic filler developed by Alfa-Laval and Carbotek is also being marketed at Interpack, as a clean, user-friendly alternative to stainless steel kegs.
It can fill 25-liter bag-in-box up to 240 bags/hour; three different sizes are available for ultraclean or aseptic filling for capacities of 1,000, 4,000 or 6,000 liters/hour.
Communications manager, Annette Risberg, told BeverageDaily.com that accuracy and flexibility was the focus for the company’s recent machine innovations in the beverage sphere.
‘Scalability is our strength’ – Alfa-Laval
She said that Alfa-Laval stood out from the competition due to its expertise in aseptic and non-aseptic filling, and a broad product portfolio.
“We have more than 25 years experience in aseptic processing and flexible bag filling. Our range of compact, pre-assembled and pre-tested fillers range from pilot size to full-scale production with customization possibilities,” Risberg said.
Since Alfa-Laval deals with all the major bag-in-box suppliers, Risberg said the company was able to supply a wide variety of caps and closures, automation and alarm systems and autodiagnostics for product traceability.
“Fillers can easily be extended from one to two filling heads, and from semi- to fully automatic. They can be delivered as stand-alone or as part of a complete, integrated system including cartoning and Alfa Laval tanks and modules for pasteurization and de-carbonation,” she added.